Life expectancy of different animals. A few facts. Average life expectancy of different animal species Which animals have the shortest life expectancy

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Life expectancy There are not many species among reptiles in which the life of individual individuals is surprisingly fleeting (just over a year). Typically, small lizards live in nature for 2–3 years, larger ones, as well as snakes, for several years. Turtles, especially large ones, reach even

There are a great variety of animals in the world - domestic and wild, known or not yet known to science. Every year, scientists discover some new species, and some representatives of the fauna become extinct. In total, according to scientific sources, there are more than one and a half million species of them on the planet. The life expectancy of different animals living on land and under water differs - sometimes by several times. Let's compare just some data.

Shellfish

The largest was recorded among mollusks. Indeed, the Oceanic Venus, found off the coast of Iceland (2007) at a depth of eighty meters, lived for more than 400 years. Scientists determined its age by the lines on its shell (like the rings on the cut of a tree trunk). The animal, which “remembers” ancient eras, was nicknamed Ming, in honor of the ruling dynasty of emperors that was in power in China when it was born. And the previous record also belonged to one mollusk who lived 374 years.

Sea bass

Despite the commercial importance of this fish species, some individuals live quite a long time - up to 200 years. Such specimens were found in the Pacific Ocean at depths of up to 500 meters. The thing is that this fish grows very slowly and becomes sexually mature late. And, as a result: a significant life expectancy (of course, if the ubiquitous fishermen do not have time to catch it).

Sea urchin and others

The lifespan of different animals, as a rule, is largely determined by their habitat. Thus, among marine and oceanic species there are quite a lot of long-livers. The red sea urchin, for example, can live up to 200 years if it succeeds. In general, it has been living in the depths of the sea for 450 million years.

Bowhead whales also live more than two hundred years. The oldest known specimen is 245! They are joined by koi carp, the oldest caught is 226 years old (although average age species does not exceed 50).

Turtles

The lifespan of different animals also depends on their lifestyle. Thus, turtles are generally known for their advanced years and can rightfully be included in the list of long-lived fauna. The oldest known land turtle reached the age of 250 years.

"Eternals"

Sponges, which according to the corresponding classification are also animals, ensure their longevity with low mobility and extremely slow growth. An Antarctic sponge, studied by scientists, lived for more than one and a half thousand years!

And one of them, as it became known in Lately, is practically ageless. Since an animal at a certain period of its development can “turn back time”, returning to the “teenage” stage of the polyp and begin to develop again. Thus, these specimens are potentially immortal.

Wildlife animals

What about representatives of wild fauna?

• As a rule, the optimal lifespan of various animals of the mammalian class is limited to 100 years or less. Only some whales and elephants take longer. Horses can live more than 50 years. A brown bear, on average, lives up to 45 years, while small rodents live only a few years.
• Some insects live their entire lives in a day. These include mayflies or, for example, bag butterflies (here the minutes count). In bees, the queen lives up to 5 years, and simple worker bees - up to forty days (that’s really true: class injustice)! Some beetles live for three years. But female ants, for example, can live up to 15 years (males - several days).
• Among reptiles there are species that reptile for a very long time. Everyone knows that these are turtles. Small species Reptiles usually live no more than three years. Large snakes - up to 25. Iguanas - more than 50.
• Crows, among many species of birds, can live up to 40-50 years in captivity. Average life passerines - up to 20, gulls - 17, owls - up to 15, pigeons - 12.

Life expectancy of pets

It often depends on the living conditions of the animals. Their proper feeding and adherence to the daily routine. Roughly speaking, the lifespan of domestic animals depends on how a person takes care of them after taming them.

• Some domestic chickens can live up to 30 (but who can tell them)! Average duration cows, according to livestock breeders, are up to 30 years old. Bulls live less - up to 20. Horses in good conditions stays can live up to 50-60! But they usually don’t live to see 30.
• Among pets: rabbits - 12 years, hamsters - 3 years, mice - 2 years, rats - up to 5. It depends dramatically on the breed. On average, from 7 to 15. Some cats live up to 25 (usually up to 15 years).

Lifespan of animals. Table

As you can see, some animals live quite a long time. Some, on the contrary, take several days and even hours. Scientists still cannot find the exact criteria according to which this or that life expectancy of animals exists. The table below only states the facts (of course, they are approximate).

It remains to add that a person, as a representative of the class of mammals, may well live more than a hundred years if he leads healthy image life and get rid of bad habits.

Not only schoolchildren, but also adults often ask questions about the life expectancy of certain animals. If in relation to domestic animals it is relatively simple to answer this question, then in relation to wild animals the available information on life expectancy is far from complete, sometimes insufficiently accurate and contradictory, with the exception of a few cases of long-term observation of wild animals kept in captivity. Therefore, facts about the life expectancy of animals, conscientiously and carefully collected not only by specialists, but also by amateurs, are of undoubted scientific value.

The problem of animal life expectancy is of interest both for theory and practice. Indeed, the question of how long the life expectancy of a particular wild animal (both beneficial and harmful) and a domestic animal of a particular breed is, cannot but interest scientists and practitioners.

The information presented in this essay, drawn from extensive scientific and educational literature, without claiming absolute accuracy for the reasons stated above, they still give a real idea of ​​the diversity of life expectancy and life cycle in different animals.

In 1737, in the Indian Ocean, on Egmont Island, a specimen of one of the species of giant turtles was caught, the age of which was determined by scientists to be 100 years old. This turtle was taken to England, where for a long time lived with an amateur, and then was transferred to the London Zoo, where she continued to live in the twenties of the current century, and perhaps still lives. If zoologists’ calculations about its age at capture were correct, then the animal is now over three hundred years old and the turtle can be considered the oldest animal known to us.

Other cases of turtles living in captivity for up to a hundred years or more have been described., and not only giant ones, but also such ordinary ones as the Greek tortoise, which lives in coastal countries Mediterranean Sea, and in the USSR in places in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. It would be interesting to obtain data on this issue for the widespread steppe and marsh turtles. It is very likely that they also have a long life expectancy.

Crocodiles reach no less respectable age, which, according to some sources, live up to 300 years of age. In some areas of Africa, they talk about individual crocodiles that have survived several generations of people. Since the growth of crocodiles, although very slow, continues until old age, the size of old crocodiles can be very large.

Previously, much was said about the exceptionally long life expectancy of whales and elephants, supposedly reaching 400 years or more, but this turned out to be incorrect, and at present The age limit for whales is set at 50, and for elephants - about 70 years. There have been cases of elephants living up to 100-120 years in captivity, but this appears to be rare.

Fish are distinguished by significant durability. Popular science books about animals and zoology textbooks indicate that in the Moscow region in 1794, while cleaning the Tsaritsyn ponds, a pike was caught with a gold ring threaded through the gill cover, on which was engraved: “Planted by Tsar Boris Fedorovich.” Since the reign of Boris Godunov took place in 1598-1605, it follows that The pike lived in the pond for about 200 years.

There is also a story about a pike caught in Germany in 1497 with a ring on which the date of its landing was engraved: 1230. So this pike lived more than 267 years. However, a number of modern experts doubt the reliability of these facts, still believing that pike can live up to 70-80 years. The data presented in the literature on the hundred-year (or more) life expectancy of carp and some other fish also need to be verified.

Cases described in the literature life in captivity for catfish up to 60 years, eel up to 55 years, goldfish up to 30 years. Based on the method developed at the beginning of this century for determining the age of fish by bones and annual rings on scales, it has been indisputably established that beluga can reach more than 100 years of age.

Regarding amphibians, quite recently in one of the foreign scientific journals there was a report about extraordinary longevity giant salamander that lived in captivity for up to 130 years. Among birds, the raven is distinguished by its longevity. There are cases when this bird in captivity lived up to 70 years of age, and according to some reports, even twice as long.

Birds of prey live long. So, for example, according to Golden eagles live in captivity for 80 years or more. The oldest resident of the Moscow Zoo, the American condor Kuzya, has lived in the Moscow Zoo since 1892. A nocturnal predator, an eagle owl, lived in one of the zoos for 68 years. Falcons reach the age of one hundred years, and among non-predatory birds - parrots. Among the latter, even a 140-year-old specimen was described.

Life expectancy of various animals.

The longevity of the swan has long been noted for waterfowl. In this regard, it is not without interest to cite the case of a mute swan being caught in England in 1887 with a ring dated 1711-1717. If the described case is reliable, then this is a record life expectancy for birds. Of poultry, they are especially durable geese living to 40, and possibly more years. Chickens live up to 20 years. A domestic pigeon lives up to 30 years.

Of the invertebrate animals, the most durable, apparently, should be considered the huge mollusk, weighing up to 300 kilograms. Indian Ocean- giant tridacna, the age limit of which is determined to be 80-100 years. According to some data, European pearl mussels, mollusks of much smaller size - 12-14 centimeters in length, can reach almost the same age.

It is interesting to note, by contrast, that many tree and shrub plants live much longer than the most durable animals. Even such small shrubs and shrubs as rose hips, blueberries, lingonberries and blueberries can live up to 300 years. Pears, cherries and cherries reach the same and even greater age. Juniper, spruce and pine live up to 400 years, linden up to 500 years or more, oak up to 1000 years. The maximum age of the American sequoia, or Mammoth tree, is determined by various authors to be 2500-4000 years with a trunk height of over 100 meters and a diameter of over 10 meters. According to some data, Mexican cypress trees live up to 10 thousand years, and Australian macrosamia from cycads reaches a record age of 12-15 thousand years.

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)

Which animals have the shortest life expectancy? Usually, the insect mayflies are cited as an example, flying in masses on spring and summer evenings over rivers, lakes and ponds. Indeed, these truly ephemeral creatures live only a few days, and some mayflies live only a few hours. Apparently, one of the stanzas refers specifically to the mayfly, and not to the moth famous poet A. N. Maykova: “But my life is short, it is no longer than a day.”

During this period, the named insects undergo fertilization and lay eggs in the water, after which they die, littering the surface of the water with their corpses and thereby providing rich food for fish. But the fact is that only the adult (winged) stage of this insect is brief here. The larvae that hatch from the eggs develop in the water not for several days, but for several years. Thus, all life cycle The mayfly life lasts not days at all, but years, and here we can talk about the extraordinary short duration of only one of the stages of its life.

Microscopic animal organisms - ciliates and amoebas - live for days, days and even hours, which, as is known, reproduce by division, in which instead of the so-called “maternal individual” two “daughter” ones are formed. As a separate individual, ciliates and amoebas live only in the interval between two divisions. This interval, and therefore life expectancy, is measured in days and hours; for example, in the ciliate slipper and amoeba rhizome it is equal to one day. And here the record figure belongs to plant organisms - bacteria. The individual life of many of them is only 15-60 minutes.

The transparent goby apparently has the shortest life expectancy among vertebrates.- a small fish, several centimeters long, that lives for less than a year and dies soon after the eggs are fertilized. It must be said that all representatives of the goby family are distinguished by the short duration of their life cycle.

Dragonflies live 1 - 2 months as adults, and in the larval stage, which takes place in water, up to 3 years. This period is significantly extended in the North American seventeen-year cicada. Its larva lives in the ground for 17 years, and adult form only 10 - 20 days. Worker bees bred in the spring or summer live 6 weeks, and worker bees bred in the fall live 6 months. The queen bee is much more durable and can live up to 5 years.

It is assumed that frogs and newts live about 5 years in the wild, but cases of a grass frog living in captivity for up to 18 years, a newt for up to 28 years, and a bullfrog for up to 16 years have been described. One lover's toad lived even longer - 36 years.

Birds live long compared to other vertebrates, but the largest ones do not always live longer. For example, the largest bird is African ostrich, lives only up to 30 - 40 years. On the other hand, small songbirds: canaries, starlings, goldfinches - survived in captivity for 20-25 years.

Among mammals, it is interesting to note the estimated age limit of the great apes - gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans: it is 50 - 60 years. Other small monkeys survived in captivity for up to 20 years, and baboons - up to 45. Large predators such as bears and tigers live up to 40 - 50 years. Lions live somewhat shorter: about 30 years; leopards and lynxes 15 - 20 years. Smaller predators - the wolf and the fox, are less durable: the maximum age of the first does not exceed 15 years, and the second - 10 - 12 years.

Of the ungulates, deer and elk live about 20 years, roe deer - 15. Hippos and rhinoceroses in the zoo lived for 40 years. Rodents live much shorter lives, especially small ones like mice and rats, whose age limit does not exceed 2-3 years. Muskrat lives 4 years guinea pig- 8 years, squirrels and hares - up to 10 years. Among rodents, only the beaver stands out for its durability. Professor S.I. Ognev points out that these animals live almost until... 35 and even 50 years of age.

The most durable of domestic animals is the donkey, living up to 50 years; a horse and a camel live up to 30, a cow - up to 25, a pig - up to 20, a sheep - up to 15, a dog - up to 15, a cat - up to 10-12 years. There is information in the literature about horses that lived to be 62-67 years old, as well as about a cat that lived in the same family for 38 years. It should not be forgotten that farm animals are usually used to an age well below the age limit.

When viewing the above figures, it is surprising that approximately the same life expectancy of completely different animals, such as an earthworm and a fox, a toad and a horse, a crayfish and a lynx, a tridacna clam and a falcon, a raven and an elephant, etc. Thus, there is no direct proportionality between the complexity of the organization of the animal, the size of its body and life expectancy. Life expectancy still needs further careful study. At present, we can only say that the life expectancy of animals and plants various types presents as amazing a variety as their sizes.

Some are just curious how long do different animals live?. This page will answer all these questions.

Here we present a table showing Comparative characteristics life expectancy of certain animals. It is known that a huge number of different animals greatly exceed humans in life expectancy.

The secret of animal longevity depends on the conditions in which it lives. Therefore, it is very important to know what conditions are good for your pet. I suggest you find out more how many years do animals live.

How many years do dogs live

(the average lifespan of dogs varies greatly depending on the breed)

How many years do birds live

How many years do wild animals live?

How many years do insects live?

How many years do fish live?

Results

As you can see, with all the diversity of animals, the difference in life expectancy is very large. Due to the deterioration of the climate, the established level began to fall. This suggests that each individual has its own characteristics, which must be carefully monitored and try to avoid health problems.